


Small And Adorable (But Could Probably Skewer You)

by violasarecool



Series: What Can 8 Grey Wardens Do? [21]
Category: Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening
Genre: Bonding, Dalish Culture, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-08
Updated: 2017-05-08
Packaged: 2018-10-29 15:40:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10856994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violasarecool/pseuds/violasarecool
Summary: a few only tangentially related drabbles as kit gets to know some of the other wardens. bit of a character study.





	Small And Adorable (But Could Probably Skewer You)

**Author's Note:**

> note to those who havent read some of the other fics in the wc8gwd verse: kit and merle were wardens in orlais before they came back to ferelden; quentin surana is the warden-commander.

"Why does everyone treat me like a child?" Kit complained. "I'm only a couple years younger than Quentin!"

Sigrun tore her gaze away from the other Wardens training in the courtyard below; Kit gave her an impatient look, and Sigrun shrugged. "It's probably because you're small and adorable."

"Don't _you_ start," Kit groaned. "Besides, you're shorter than I am!"

"Yes, but I have an angry face that makes people wet their pants," Sigrun said. "You wouldn't mock someone who looks like they could skewer you."

"Yeah? Well I once _skewered_ a shemlen for invading our forest," Kit said.

"Hey, I'm not saying you couldn't, you just don't _look_ like the kind of person who could." Sigrun glanced at her pensively. "Maybe we should work on your aggressive faces, get you a war cry or something."

"Okay," Kit said, "that could be fun."

"And if that doesn't work, we steal their stuff and hide it until they stop making fun of you," Sigrun said, grinning.

Kit giggled. "Can we do both?"

"Fuck, yeah."

* * *

It was late in the evening as many of the Wardens sat in Vigil's Keep, warming themselves by the fire, weapons and armour discarded, hair loosed—with the exception of Velanna, whose silvery hair was tied back in a tight bun, as always.

"Velanna, can I braid your hair?" Kit asked.

Velanna wrinkled her nose. "I would rather you didn't."

" _Please,"_ Kit begged, "your hair is so pretty, and it wouldn't take very long."

Merle frowned. "Maker's sake, Kit, don't badger her—"

"Oh, alright," Velanna huffed, though she smiled somewhat when Kit bounced over.

"Turn around," Kit instructed, and Velanna turned dutifully, folding hands over crossed legs as Kit gently pulled her hair loose. Kit began murmuring something Merle couldn't catch, and Velanna nodded slightly, causing Kit to reprimand her. Merle smiled, shaking their head as they turned to take a look at their papers; and so they nearly missed it when Velanna said:

"You are Dalish, are you not?"

Merle glanced up, and found Velanna looking their way. "Hm? Oh, uh, yes, I'm from the same clan as Kit. Why?"

"Why do you swear by a  _human_ god?" Velanna asked derisively.

Merle shrugged. "A bad habit of mine. I lived with humans for a long time, I guess they rubbed off on me."

"Hm. Do you worship human gods, then?"

"No. Although," they smiled, "that's not for lack of effort on their part."

"Yes, they do enjoy  _converting,_ don't they," Velanna said dryly.

"The people in those sun robes tried to get me to visit their chantry while I was on patrol, once," Kit said. "Philippe told them we were busy  _three times_ before they finally let us go."

Merle frowned. "They shouldn't have bothered you while on patrol. You had your uniform on?"

"Yes," Kit sniffed, "chest plate and all. Hold still," Kit said to Velanna, who had reached up a hand to feel the back of her head. "I'll show you when I'm done, now  _don't touch."_

"She is more demanding than you," Velanna said, and Merle smiled.

"I get the feeling she's trying to make up for all those years as the  _baby_ of the clan," they said, and ruffled Kit's hair as they walked by. Kit made a face at them. "I'll see you later this afternoon. For now, I've got to run a few ideas through the Commander before I talk to anyone else. And then I'll need you, Kit."

"Busy busy," she muttered.

"Just how you like it," Merle called over their shoulder, and Kit rolled her eyes with a reluctant grin.

* * *

"Were you left handed or right-handed?" Kit asked one afternoon, as they and Talia patrolled the outskirts of Amaranthine's farmland.

"Hm?" Talia looked over at Kit, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Before you lost your hand, I mean. Because it would suck to lose your main hand."

Talia gave a low laugh. "That's the one. I was left-handed."

"Oh, shit, really?" Kit exclaimed, glancing at the shield Talia held strapped to the stump of her left arm. "Good thing you fight with a sword and shield, then, huh? That's a really neat setup you have for your shield arm."

"Thanks."

"Why do you use your sword with your right hand, then, if you're left-handed? Unless you changed sides after you lost your hand." They made a face. "Sorry, maybe that's insensitive, I'm hearing Merle telling me off in my head right now, you don't have to answer that."

Talia laughed. "They're not here, so you're fine."

"Okay," Kit said.

"In any case, I've always fought this way. If soldiers fought with their sword in their dominant hand, it would throw their whole complement off."

Kit frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Imagine a group of soldiers all lined up in neat rows," Talia said, making up and down motions with her sword as if drawing lines of soldiers in the air. "They all march in unison. Of course, when they're fighting, they don't stay quite as neat. But if they all move in roughly the same pattern, it makes it less likely for them to accidentally just whack their sword into someone on their side because they were swinging wide." She swung her sword to her right for emphasis, then glanced at Kit, smiling. "Does that make sense?"

"Yeah, I never thought about that. I guess we don't really fight like shemlen do."

"No?"

"Well, for one thing, most of us use bows. That, or daggers, they're the most practical weapons, really. And when you're moving all the time like we do, wood is the easiest to work with."

Talia nodded. "That makes sense."

"And how would you fight in _rows_ in the forest? You'd keep walking into trees," Kit said, grinning.

"Not a formation best suited for the Dalish, I guess," Talia said with a smile.

"You got _that_ right."


End file.
